Azimuthal correlations of D mesons with charged particles in simulations with the ALICE experiment

In this manuscript, results of a component-level analysis with Monte Carlo simulations are presented, that aid the interpretation of recent ALICE results on the azimuthal correlation distribution of prompt D mesons with charged hadrons in pp and p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. Parton-level contributions and fragmentation properties are evaluated. Charm and beauty contributions are compared in order to identify the observables that serve as sensitive probes of the production and hadronization of heavy quarks.